Paradise Drive, Paradise Beach County Park - Jan. 29, 2010

Walking Distance: 3.1 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 58 min. (12:40 - 2:38 p.m.)
Start and End Point: On (shoulder, pull-out area) Paradise Drive, Tiburon, CA

I was happy to cheat the rain again today. I didn't need my umbrella, but it may have made me more visible to cars.* I first walked northwest (back to Seafirth Rd., where I'd stopped walking yesterday), then turned around and walked southeast. I passed my car, and went south on Paradise Dr. to Paradise Beach County Park. I stopped at the Park for awhile, to walk down into and around the park (out to the end of the fishing pier), took some pictures of pigeons and the Bay. Nice to hear waves lapping on the shore. I walked back to the car, retracing my steps via Paradise Drive.

*Note: Be very careful when walking along Paradise Drive. There are some blind corners where cars may not see pedestrians, and there are no shoulders to walk on in many parts.

Wildlife Sightings:
4 turkey vultures, 1 little brown job (LBJ), 10 pigeons, 5 pelicans, 9 sea gulls, 1 western grebe, and 1 hawk

Tiburon - Paradise Drive - Jan. 28, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.4 miles
Walking Time: 57 min. (2:45 - 3:42 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Street Parking, near Shepard Way and Trestle Glen, Tiburon, CA

This was the third, and last, segment I walked today. From the car, I headed west on Trestle Glen, first north (as far as Mateo) and then south (to Seafirth Rd.) on Paradise Drive. I ran out of camera battery, so no pictures on this segment. I probably covered a lot more ground, a lot more quickly, without all the picture-taking stops, but I did make note of scenery I will try to capture next time.

Wildlife Sightings:
2 little brown jobs/songbirds (LBJs), 1 turkey vulture, 1 hummingbird, 1 rusty screw, and 1 small table in the grass by side of road

Tiburon - Trestle Glen - Jan. 28, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.7 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 18 min. (12:31 - 1:49 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Street parking along Greenwood Beach Road, Tiburon, CA

In this second segment today, I walked to Blackie's Pasture area, and around the park area. Eventually I took the fork of the Bay Trail going up Trestle Glen (double yellow lines indicate surface road/street), and saw some deer munching grass by the side of the road.

There were also several robins (I hadn't seen a large group like this for years) going after clusters of red pyracantha berries growing close to the road. As a child I remember huge numbers of birds (before DDT and development killed most of them off) descending on these berries, getting "drunk" and bumping into windows. Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so no robin pictures.

Note: There was not much of a shoulder on Tiburon Blvd. - Trestle Glen roads, so watch traffic carefully if you walk on this road. 

Wildlife Sightings:
37 little brown jobs (LBJs)/songbirds, 7+ robins, 6 crows, 2 Canada geese, 31 sea gulls, 20 unidentified brownish shorebirds, 19 pigeons, 1 great egret, 1 snowy egret, 2 ducks, and 3 deer

Greenwood Beach Rd. -> Tiburon - Jan. 28, 2010

Walking Distance: 2.5 miles
Walking Time: 1 hr., 28 min. (10:56 a.m. - 12:24 p.m.)
Start and End Point: street parking on Harbor Cove Way,
end of cul-de-sac, Strawberry, CA

After many rainy days, it was great to see the sun today. I took advantage of the good weather and walked a few different segments. This is the first of three. Most of today's walking took place along city streets (shown as parallel yellow lines on map).

I walked by a marsh area and around a small cove (lots of birds), then southeast along Greenwood Beach Road.

I stopped at the Richardson Bay Audobon Center and Sanctuary.
From the brick patio of the historic Lyford house, there was a great view
of Angel Island and the San Francisco skyline. Also, there was a scenic
little trail going through the woods (old orchard and some redwood trees),
and a small beach I walked down some stairs to reach.

I returned to find some droppings on my car. No surprise, given the large
number of birds in this area.

Wildlife Sightings:
28 ducks, 1 great egret, 5 coots, 2 American avocets, 3 black-necked stilts, 5 sea gulls, 7 crows, 1 turkey vulture, 1 snowy egret, 2 balls (1 basketball, 1 tennis ball), 10 Canada geese, 3 Western grebes, 1 brown pelican, 15 pigeons, and 5 little brown jobs (LBJs)

E. Strawberry Drive - Harbor Cove - Jan. 23, 2010

Walking Distance: 4.2 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 1 hr., 8 min. (10:55 a.m. - 12:03 p.m.)
Start & End Point: E. Strawberry Drive, Mill Valley/Strawberry, CA

Today I covered much more ground than I usually do, in part due to the rain. This was only the second day I've walked in the rain. However, due to it being an "El Nino" year, I have a feeling there will be more days where I'm juggling an umbrella, a camera, a notebook, and other items, while out on the Bay Trail. Ah well, it certainly will be a nice green spring, from the looks of it.

And, gray, rainy weather creates its own interesting sights and ambience, such as dramatic skylines of San Francisco across the Bay. And if you enjoy watching wildlife along the Bay, ducks and other birds also seem
to do just fine in this weather.

Wildlife Sightings:
36 ducks; 3 coots; 2 turkey vultures; 22 sea gulls; 1 brown pelican; 5 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 Western grebe; 30 unidentified brownish shorebirds; 2 crows; 2 American avocets; 2 Canadian geese; 2 snowy egrets